Out of Gas On Lover's Leap, by Mark St. Germain, focuses on these two teens who are miserable in their lives. They both come from rich backgrounds, but never encounter a good, solid bond with their parents. They hear more about them in magazines and newspapers, not in the flesh. From start to finish, the audience starts to really feel a connection with Myst and Grouper, even though they are rich. Their social status is thrown out the window and focuses on the real trouble of teens. Myst is a troubled seventeen year old girl who is the daughter of a soon fading rock star with mixed up morals. She wants to take Grouper's virginity, but Grouper wants to wait til marriage. Grouper is also a seventeen year old boy who is the son of a U.S. senator and also never sees his father. All Group wants to be is Myst's boyfriend, but Myst just wants to get laid. As the play proceeds, the audience notices that these teenagers are just two lost souls and not self centered like their parents. They are graduating high school which puts a ton of pressure on their future and living up to the family name. Together they overcome obstacles and share each others hopes and dreams of being together. By the end of the play the audience feels so close and thinks that everything will come out alright, but it doesn't. Both the audience and characters are soaring in midair.
For me, I wanted to keep the same intensity and seriousness of the play and adapt it to film. The script that we adapted was as close to the original as we could get. I needed to keep every line because every line had a certain meaning. One line Myst maybe yelling at Grouper, then the next she is crying. The play has numerous twists and turns, keeping the audience attentive consecutively. Our scene that I choice was the final scene of the play. It is set on the edge of a cliff and instead of putting them in a car like the play, I set them on a blanket. I decided to do the last scene because it has the most importance and meaning in the play. It ties everything together, but ends in a curious fashion. Myst and Grouper decide to jump of the cliff at Lover's leap, killing themselves. When the two Characters kissed and said, "Happy graduation", the audience thought that they were just going to leave and go on with their futures, but that wasn't the case. When they killed themselves, it showed how much this pressure they were under and how it kept building over time. This play got the essence and the true feelings of how some teenagers are. Rich families may look good on the paper, but in reality, they are more dysfunctional than people think.
They play as a whole had a lot of themes and underlining messages. A couple for example, is love can't come from a store, Teenage suicide, teenage depression, and looks can be decieving. I had a hard time putting my finger on one solid theme that describes the whole play because each scene varies in so many catagories. The ending, for instance, really has the underlining message of teenage suicide because Myst and Grouper kill themselves, but it was a curve ball. They may have seemed suicidal teenagers, but the main difference is that they had each other and had true feelings for one another. So I wouldn't say that the whole play is focused around teenage suicide. For me, I would say that the play is focused on how love can't be bought. Myst and Grouper's parents are never there and just engorge them with money or gifts and not making a true effort to see them in person. Parents doing that especially to teenagers can have a huge impact on how they will act in the future when they are parents. Money can't buy love!
For me, I wanted to keep the same intensity and seriousness of the play and adapt it to film. The script that we adapted was as close to the original as we could get. I needed to keep every line because every line had a certain meaning. One line Myst maybe yelling at Grouper, then the next she is crying. The play has numerous twists and turns, keeping the audience attentive consecutively. Our scene that I choice was the final scene of the play. It is set on the edge of a cliff and instead of putting them in a car like the play, I set them on a blanket. I decided to do the last scene because it has the most importance and meaning in the play. It ties everything together, but ends in a curious fashion. Myst and Grouper decide to jump of the cliff at Lover's leap, killing themselves. When the two Characters kissed and said, "Happy graduation", the audience thought that they were just going to leave and go on with their futures, but that wasn't the case. When they killed themselves, it showed how much this pressure they were under and how it kept building over time. This play got the essence and the true feelings of how some teenagers are. Rich families may look good on the paper, but in reality, they are more dysfunctional than people think.
They play as a whole had a lot of themes and underlining messages. A couple for example, is love can't come from a store, Teenage suicide, teenage depression, and looks can be decieving. I had a hard time putting my finger on one solid theme that describes the whole play because each scene varies in so many catagories. The ending, for instance, really has the underlining message of teenage suicide because Myst and Grouper kill themselves, but it was a curve ball. They may have seemed suicidal teenagers, but the main difference is that they had each other and had true feelings for one another. So I wouldn't say that the whole play is focused around teenage suicide. For me, I would say that the play is focused on how love can't be bought. Myst and Grouper's parents are never there and just engorge them with money or gifts and not making a true effort to see them in person. Parents doing that especially to teenagers can have a huge impact on how they will act in the future when they are parents. Money can't buy love!